1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to reservoir filling systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for automatically refilling reservoirs, such as printing consumable or ink/toner reservoirs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reservoir refilling systems are employed in various demanding applications including gas stations, automated candy manufacturing machines, water bottle filling stations, hazardous materials operations, and printing consumable or ink/toner reservoir replenishment systems. Such applications often demand efficient and cost-effective reservoir filling systems.
Efficient reservoir filling systems are particularly important in printing applications such as laser printers, inkjet printers, facsimile machines, photocopying machines, postage printing machines, and label printers. In these applications, systems for efficiently replacing printing consumable, such as ink or toner, may significantly reduce printer operating costs.
Conventionally, a consumable or ink/toner reservoir, such as printer toner cartridge, is replaced when the consumable or ink/toner is depleted. Unfortunately, manufacturing, distributing, and disposing replacement printer cartridges is undesirably inefficient, costly, and environmentally unfriendly.
To mitigate the environmental impact of printer cartridge disposal, printer cartridges are often recycled. However, recycling, re-distribution, and printer cartridge inventory management costs remain undesirably high.
Hence, a need exists in the art for an efficient and cost-effective system and method for replenishing a reservoir with an appropriate amount and type of filler. There exists a further need for a system that can automatically bill a user for the filler dispensed.